Being A Hero Without Superpowers
by Lillian Smith
Summary: Spider-Man has superpowers. So do the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, etc, etc. But sometimes, you don't need superpowers to be a real hero.


**Honestly, I had first decided to make this an Ultimate Spider-Man fanfic, but since it was pretty general, I thought why not make it a Spider-Man fanfiction. Oh and this is my first Spider-Man fanfiction.**

 _ **Rated: K.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man.**_

 **That being said, enjoy the story!**

* * *

Normal.

 _Flashbacks._

 _Emphasizing **,**_ **emphasizing,** **emphasizing.**

 **Author's notes. (I'm a weird person, so please bear with me.)**

* * *

 **Being A Hero Without Superpowers**

Spider-Man was swinging from building to building. He was patrolling his city to make sure that there weren't any problems around. He smiled under his mask because he was glad that there wasn't any problem.

…

Until…

He saw this man sneaking upon a woman in an attempt to steal her purse in a dark street. Spider-Man sighed and jumped down behind the man quite stealthily. He quickly webbed his arms and legs and his mouth so that he wouldn't yell. It was so quietly done, that even the lady didn't notice a thing. In fact, by the time Spider-Man had webbed him completely and left him hanging upside-down under a dim street light (Spider-Man thought that he would make an excellent prototype of a cocoon), the lady was at the other end of the street.

…

Muffled voices could be heard from the 'cocoon'. Spider-Man tore open the web on his mouth.

"P-please do-don't s-send me t-to the c-cops," the man said. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties.

"You were trying to steal from that lady," Spider-Man pointed behind him, only to find out that she wasn't in sight. "Uh….I think she must've reached the main road by now."

"Please Spider-Man, it's not like h-how it looks. I-I can explain," the man stammered.

"Explain what? Trying to steal from an innocent citizen? You have no excuse for that!" Spider-Man said angrily.

"I know how it feels. I've been stolen from, betrayed and everything. But I had no choice," the man said.

"What do you mean 'had no choice'? There is no excuse for stealing or doing crimes unless you're positively manipulated. It's a crime to humanity!" Spider-Man said, then quoted someone's words. "I know unemployment and poverty leads to crime rates. Beg, but do not steal. It's far worse that begging."

"I-I needed food immediately, Spider-Man. My wife is very week and we've had no food for days. Sh-she can't survive a-any longer without food," the man said, his eyes filling with tears.

Suddenly Spider-Man's anger vanished. And instead of that, his heart filled with sympathy as he cut the web and the man fell on the floor. He then webbed him in such a way that he looked like a cocoon that was attached on the wall. He asked, "She…she can't?"

"Of course she can't!" the man yelled angrily, tears starting to fall from his eyes. "She's going to die!"

 _Die…_

" _They…are dead…"_

" _Mom? Dad?"_

" _They…are gone…forever..."_

"D-don't remind me," Peter felt his heart ache and clutched his chest. He had this sort of trauma. When he lost his parents, if anyone would talk about them or death or their own parents, his heart would ache, he would have flashbacks and he would burst into tears, because that would remind him of his late parents. It took him two years to get over it, but he finally did. Now that Uncle Ben had died, that trauma had returned. And this time if anyone mentioned of uncles or parents or death, it would remind him of his own Uncle and his parents. His heart would ache, he would get flashbacks and he would start crying.

But the man didn't hear him. "You don't…don't know how it feels that you're going to lose someone you love, Spider-Man!"

 _Lose someone you love…_

" _No…no…Mom, Dad.."_

" _Uncle Ben…please…don't go…"_

"Uncle...Ben…Dad…Mom…" Spider-Man whispered, starting to lose balance. So he held at a street light to keep his balance.

"I have only one person I can call family, and if that is gone too...then there is no use of me to continue living!" the man said.

 _Family…_

" _I love you, Mom!"_

" _That's so cool, Dad!"_

" _That's an…amazing trick, Uncle Ben!"_

"Stop," Spider-Man whispered, eyes filling with tears as the man's words reminded him of different memories…memories of his dead loved ones that gave him so much pain.

"I wouldn't even have anyone to support me if she is gone!" the man continued.

 _Support…_

" _The only people I could call support is Mom, Dad, Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Mary Jane and Harry… But half of my support is...gone…"_

"Please stop…stop," Spider-Man said again which fell into deaf ears.

"You don't know how it feels, Spider-Man… It's a terrible feeling, to know that you can't do anything while you're watching your loved ones being ripped apart from you!"

 _Watching your loved ones being ripped apart from you…_

" _No, not Mom and Dad, they can't be gone! That's not true!"_

" _UNCLE BEN! NOOOOO!"_

"Stop…stop…stop!" Spider-Man said louder, catching the man's attention.

"Stop WHAT?! What does it matter to you that an old hag's wife is struggling to death in her bed?!" the man yelled, frustrated. "All you care is for some stupid superhero attention!"

 _Struggling to death…_

" _Listen…Peter…T-take care of yourself…and-and you're A-Aunt…"_

"Because you're reminding me of them," Spider-Man yelled suddenly as his legs failed and he knelt down and started crying, tears falling freely from his eyes.

The man looked surprised as he saw the famous masked vigilante crying like a kid.

…

Wait, he _is_ a kid.

Or so the man thought.

He looked surprised as it dawned on him, that he was too young to be a hero. Surely, he shouldn't be older than sixteen years. His voice and his physique told that. The man never noticed the fact that he was so young before because he was too busy in thinking about his wife.

"Hey, kid, who are you talking about?" the man asked, wondering who this 'them' was.

"My mom, my dad, my uncle, they're all dead, all gone!" Spider-Man said, crying. "They've all left me! It feels terrible!"

"Oh…" the man said, suddenly feeling guilty of reminding him of his dead relatives. "I'm sorry."

"It's…okay," Spider-Man said, having calmed down but still feeling sad. "Wasn't your fault."

"Aren't you too young to be a hero?" the man inquired, curious.

"Maybe."

"At this age, you should be studying at home, not protecting the city."

Oh.

 **Oh.**

" **Ohhh….** " Spider-Man said, suddenly remembering that he had a **major** test the next day and that he had to start studying for it.

"What's the matter?" the man asked.

"Nothing," Spider-Man shook it off. "What's your name?"

"Laurence," the man said. "Protecting the city is the job of the police, not yours."

"It's not a matter of choice, it's a matter of responsibility," Spider-Man said, remembering his Uncle Ben. "If one has the power to help others, it's a must to do it."

"You are wise, son," Laurence smiled. "I was wrong about you."

"It's okay. Even I was wrong about you," Spider-Man said.

* * *

"This much money can get you some food, about two meals. And you can have it for dinner," Spider-Man said, handing some money to Laurence.

"Thank you so much, Spider-Man," Laurence said, on the verge of tears. "No one has ever helped me like this. I'll never forget your gratitude."

"I'll drop by your place sometime," Spider-Man smiled.

"No, no," Laurence quickly shook his head. "You don't have to. You have to do your studies, and you have to protect the city."

"You're forgetting that the city includes you," Spider-Man said kindly.

"But…still," Laurence said, at a loss of words.

"I'm just glad I was able to save someone from the trauma that I had suffered. Anyway, I gotta go. Take care. And tell your wife I said hi!" Spider-Man said, running and preparing to swing.

"I will! Thanks again!" Laurence said, waving to Spider-Man, then muttered to himself and smiled. "My wife is not going to believe what happened."

* * *

"It's not just the superpowers that makes you a hero. What actually makes you a hero, is the good things you do for others even though you had the choice to ignore it. One can always be a hero, even without superpowers," Spider-Man smiled. "It's a good thing tomorrow's test is after the lunch break."

* * *

 **Sorry about the title, couldn't think of anything else. A review, fav or follow will help! Have a nice day or night!**

 **Oh and here's a deleted scene. I felt that it didn't exactly fit in the story, but I didn't want to permanently delete it.**

* * *

The man nodded. Spider-Man saw fear in his eyes. Not the kind of fear of being caught that he had seen in others, but a different kind of fear. Fear of losing his wife. Spider-Man knew how it felt to lose someone. He had not only lost his parents but also his Uncle, who passed away only recently. It would be terrible to lose his aunt, too. He would have no family left.


End file.
